The invention is directed generally to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to a connector for providing a plug-type interconnection between a solid wire conductor and a wire-wrap terminal post, such as on a panelboard.
In the data and communication industries there is extensive use of terminal boards which have a plurality of terminal posts extending therefrom for connecting the associated circuitry with other equipment. Particularly in the area of telephony, large numbers of such terminal boards are utilized in telephone central offices. It is frequently necessary to make temporary connections of wire conductors to selected ones of the terminal posts for performing test operations and the like.
At present, temporary connections of individual wire conductors to a terminal post are made by simply wrapping the stripped end of the wire conductor around the terminal post, which post is normally rectangular or square in transverse cross section to facilitate engagement between the post and the conductor. But this operation is extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive. Furthermore, the winding of the wire conductor around the terminal post seriously weakens the conductor and, therefore, the conductor must continually be cut back and restripped on succeeding operations, resulting in considerable waste.
Adapter plugs, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,325,770, issued to K. M. Hammell et al. on June 13, 1967, have been provided, but such plugs require the permanent mounting on the wire conductor of a special type of terminal contact for mating with the plug receptacle.